Let's Talk: Self Love and Stuttering – What’s the Connection?

This event is free, compliments of the CSA! Enjoy!

Stuttering is often intertwined with challenging emotions, but many individuals come to embrace both themselves and their stutter. How does self love influence this journey?  

For February, a month for celebrating love, we chose this topic as the focus of our first Let’s Talk event of 2025. The session will begin with a video recording of Don McLean’s workshop from the 2024 ABC-CSA Conference. In his workshop, Don describes the instrumental role of self love in his journey with stuttering. Don's workshop description is available on the conference website.

Following the video, Don will be joined by Dr. Gerald Maguire and Tom Scharstein from the World Stuttering Network to answer questions and to facilitate group discussion about how self love relates to stuttering. Your thoughts and experiences in exercising self love will make valuable contributions to the discussion. 

Don McLean has authored the following articles that support his Let's Talk topic. These provide more insight and also include downloadable pdf 'Stuttering Exercises'.  Ideally, read these in the order presented below and enjoy:

1. For You, For Each of You 
2. Reflections on 24 Hours of Craziness, Dedicated to Tall and Beautiful Catherine from Pasadena
3. Stuttering Exercises
4. My Name... My Name... My Name is Don McLean
5. The Day I was Finally Heard: 52 years Later
6. For You, For Each of You
7. A Magic Moment
8. When My Stuttering went from Way Out of Control to almost Nil

Don McLean

Don McLean was born and raised in Hamilton Ontario. He graduated from the University of Toronto Law School in 1963. He was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1965. Her received a Masters of Arts from the University of Guelph in Philosophy in 1969. He spent 5 years in the Jesuit seminary, following which he returned to his home town to practice law. He was an Assistant Crown Attorney prosecuting criminal cases in the courts for 2 decades, following which he entered private practice, during which virtually all of his time was taken up defending the Canadian Jesuit Fathers, an institution of impeccable honesty, decency and empathy for the misfortune of others, regarding civil claims for sexual assault, arising out of the gross behaviour of several of their members of which they were unaware. He retired at the end of 2007 and has been living in Burlington with his wife Anne for the last 18 years. 

Dr. Gerald Maguire

Gerald A Maguire, MD is Chair and Director of Residency Training in Psychiatry at College Medical Center in Long Beach, California. Dr. Maguire is a person who stutters and has published numerous scientific papers on novel treatments for stuttering. 

Tom Scharstein

Tom Scharstein is an entrepreneur and person who stutters from South Florida, USA. Tom has been in the stuttering support community for over 27 years and currently serves as the Chair of the World Stuttering Network (WSN).